Recovery During the COVID-19 Outbreak
Written by SolutionPoint Behavioral Health
As the COVID-19 pandemic sweeps the globe, SolutionPoint Behavioral Health continues to welcome clients seeking to quit drugs and alcohol, with an enhanced slate of policies and procedures developed to keep all clients safe and protected.
Now more than ever, beginning the path to recovery could be a life-saving decision—because addiction doesn’t stop during a world crisis. If anything, it could get even worse. Addiction experts have suggested that they are already seeing an increase in relapses and overdoses due to the conditions caused by the pandemic.
At the same time, it is becoming clear that drug users may be especially susceptible to the effects of COVID-19. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the virus’s ability to attack the lungs makes it an “especially serious threat” for marijuana smokers, including those who vape.
“People with opioid use disorder (OUD) and methamphetamine use disorder may also be vulnerable due to those drugs’ effects on respiratory and pulmonary health,” the agency warns.
If you or a loved one are ready to change your life and choose recovery, now may be the best time to do it. At SolutionPoint Behavioral Health, we are as focused as ever on helping people detox safely and as comfortably as possible through our unique program. At the same time, we have an entirely new protocol for enhanced infection control.
These guidelines were developed in conjunction with industry best practices, as well as directives from the Centers for Disease Control, World Health Organization, California Department of Public Health, and other county and local authorities.
We take the COVID-19 virus very seriously. Our “Enhanced Policies and Procedures” were developed with the objective of ensuring that our patients can feel safe and secure in a “quarantine-environment” for their entire stay.
The new policies and procedures include:
Admissions: We rigorously screen potential patients and admit only those who display no symptoms of COVID-19, as described by the CDC.
Private Rooms: Until further notice, we will not offer double rooms. Instead, all patients will be assigned private rooms. Visits between rooms are banned.
72-Hour Observation: Upon admission, a new patient must stay in their room under observation during the first 72 hours of care, except to use the bathroom and shower.
Duration of Stay: After the first 72 hours, patients may leave their rooms always under the general supervision of staff and while maintaining “social distancing” guidelines of 6 feet or more. There will be no community dining, community TV watching, or other community activities.
Masks: For the protection of others, patients and staff shall wear masks at all times, but patients may remove masks when alone in their rooms.
Visitors & Tours: No visitors or tours will be permitted.
Illness: If a patient develops any general illness and/or begins displaying symptoms associated with COVID-19, such as respiratory or other “flu-like” symptoms, the patient will immediately be confined to his or her private room. The Medical Director will assess and determine whether such patient shall be held in quarantine until medically cleared from detox; or whether such patient must be immediately transferred to a hospital or otherwise discharged from our facility. It is our policy in such determinations to error on the side of caution for the health and safety of other patients and staff.
All told, we are confident that these measures will protect and safeguard our patients at the most vulnerable and most crucial point in their lives—the beginning of the road to recovery.
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